Summary: Sky watchers who saw
it will never forget it: the 2001 Leonid meteor storm.The display began
on Sunday morning, Nov. 18th, when Earth glided into a dust cloud shed by comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1766. Thousands
of meteors
per hour rained over North America and Hawaii. Then, on Monday
morning Nov. 19th (local time in Asia), it happened again: Earth
entered a second cometary debris cloud from Tempel-Tuttle. Thousands
more Leonids then fell over east Asian countries and Australia.

D. Talbot: "This fireball headed into the
western sky and flared up to an estimated -13 at its peak. It
lit up the ground like a lightning bolt casting shadows everywhere.
The smoke trail remained in the atmosphere for 20 minutes afterward."

J. Westlake: "At the storm's peak, they
were falling as fast as I could count them for nearly an hour.
About a dozen during the night were what I call 'shadow-casters'
as they blazed across the sky bathing the landscape in an eerie
light."

Christie and Carrie Ponder captured this
Leonid fireball using a Sony 8mm video camera. C. Ponder:
"Some friends and I left Houston, Texas, to find clear skies.
We ended up in Louisiana! This was my first meteor shower and
it was awesome!"

A. Soori: "I live in an area close to the
city. Even with extensive light polution I managed to capture
a few Leonids on film. I shot these pictures with a Minolta 5xi,
28-80 lens, with 30 sec exposures. I had to stay inside my garage
to avoid the glare from the street light in front of my house."